Did anyone play Gorgoland's Gauntlet?

[Coredump]

Since this was a free one, would one of you be willing to email it to me?

RobertE(at)mail2robert(dott)com

Thanks

 

[The_Gunslinger658]

Hi-

Did a google search and here ya go:

http://www.dndadventure.com/html/adventures/adv1.html

Gorgolands Gauntlant for you!


Scott

Since this was a free one, would one of you be willing to email it to me?

RobertE(at)mail2robert(dott)com

Thanks

 

[Impeesa]

Played through it last spring. Good module to get new or rusty players thinking. Fun story: A party member kept the sword from the end, and still had it on her going into Heart of Nightfang Spire. At the top of the tower, we see the giant pile of coins. Just for kicks, she pops the sword in. It immediately explodes into a frenzy of coins, and the DM realizes that the coin dragon can easily defeat the creatures hiding inside it.

--Impeesa--

 

[Baumi]

I feared that Riddles might put most players off, but it seems that this is not true

About the Minefield ... I thought that is a funny Riddle (at least for those who played the PC-Game) but I can see that it can easily become frustrating and boring. So do you have a good alternative?

Also what did you do with the Incinerated Players? The Adventure is only half through at that point and I don't want that they have to sit through the adventure
(What do you think about teleporting them nacked to the top of the stairs (after 5 or 10 minutes instead of the beginning of the dungeon?)

 

[Brekki]

It was a pretty funny adventure ... I had some inexperienced players run through it, and they enjoyed it a lot.

 

[Stockdale]

You're right with regard to that. Leaving player out at that point ruins some of the fun, but is also how the game is played. In order to soften that position, I had the jerleman (sp) subdue the character transported to the holding cell. This permitted the player the opportunity to do something while separated from the remaining party. This worked out well.

 

[Ragnar_Deerslayer]

The minefield didn't pose any problem for my quick-thinking group.

[Possible Spoilers]
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.
.
.
.
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At first level, nobody had metal armor. The Barbarian lured the rust monsters with his massive metal axe, then chucked it across the minefield. The rust monsters cleared a path for everyone.

I liked the Gauntlet a lot. Hoardmaster allows a great Deus Ex Machina for the rest of the campaign -- one that they may not find out about until necessary, but when Gorgoldand does show up and save their butts, they realize that it wasn't just out of nowhere; they wouldn't have been saved if they hadn't have passed Gorgoldand's tests earlier.

Take care,

Ragnar

 

[threshel]

It's one of the better introductory dungeon adventures out there. I ran it for my group a few years ago, and they loved it. Well the "minesweeper" puzzle was kinda anticlimactic. The other puzzles/traps were very well received.
The fight at the end of the dungeon, and the one at the end of the adventure were both great fights that still get talked about.

J

 

[Richards]

Okay, I think the biggest complaint I've heard about "Gorgoldand's Gauntlet" over the years has been that silly Minesweeper puzzle. I included it for several reasons: I happen to like Minesweeper, and as it's a purely logic-based (and somewhat mathematical) puzzle, I thought it nicely counterbalanced the "word-play" puzzles elsewhere in the Gauntlet.

Obviously, though, not everyone's thrilled with having a quick little game of Minesweeper show up in the middle of their dungeon adventure. Okay, fair enough. For those of you who would just as soon replace it with something else, the rest of this post is for you.

The following alternative puzzle was tailor-made to fit in the exact same room as the "Minesweeper puzzle." Here's the description:

The cavern floor is smooth on this side of the wooden door, although the walls remain jagged stone. Twenty feet ahead, the floor is divided up into 160 squares, each a 2 foot by 2 foot metal plate, forming an 8-by-20 grid. Each square holds a carved letter, and the floor immediately before the gridwork holds the following legend:

A GRID OF LETTERS ON THE GROUND
PLEASE CHOOSE EACH STEP OUT IN ADVANCE
THERE'S ONE SAFE PATH THAT CAN BE FOUND
IT DOESN'T STAND OUT AT FIRST GLANCE​

And here's the actual gridwork (I can't really do up the whole graphics, so just assume that each letter below is centered on a separate, square metal plate, and that they stretch from one wall to the other so there's nowhere to step except on the metal plates):

B A Y N O D E R
O N L Y O N C E
G I N A Z N I S
W H O L E B A G
R P G S O N T V
S D O C M I T D
O D D D R E A M
N L Y M E N E L
Y O U M I G H T
G G E H T O C K
D E Y V U A I R
N H T O W B N A
A T A P R O O M
D L I F E U R N
L E A R N T H E
I O N I C S C I
B R U S H O U R
A R A C H N I D
M O A T L I F E
A G E O F M A N​

(PCs start at this end)

The solution follows; I tried putting it in "spoiler mode," but the red lettering leaks through and gives the answer away anyway, so I'll just state now that the answer appears below, and it's going to be a SPOILER if you don't want to know about it ahead of time.

S

P

O

I

L

E

R

There is one safe path through the grid of letters, and the answer is spelled out in front of the PCs' noses. The phrase "each step out in advance," as mentioned in the carving, actually states which squares are safe to step on: the "E" in the first row, then the "A" in the second row, then the "C" in the third row, etc. See the diagram below for details: the "safe path" is shown in red. Stepping upon any of the other grid squares has the same result as in the original "Minesweeper" puzzle.

B A Y N O D E R
O N L Y O N C E
G I N A Z N I S
W H O L E B A G
R P G S O N T V
S D O C M I T D
O D D D R E A M
N L Y M E N E L
Y O U M I G H T
G G E H T O C K
D E Y V U A I R
N H T O W B N A
A T A P R O O M
D L I F E U R N
L E A R N T H E
I O N I C S C I
B R U S H O U R
A R A C H N I D
M O A T L I F E
A G E O F M A N​

Of course, with this set-up, Snooky the pseudodragon no longer plays a necessary role in this puzzle, so ignore the part where he mentally contacts the PCs and describes the workings of the puzzle to them. The PCs are on their own!

Those of you who aren't into Minesweeper (or doubt that their players will enjoy it) now have another option to throw at them. Of course, if they don't like word puzzles, either, then maybe "Gorgoldand's Gauntlet" isn't the best adventure to run them through!

Baumi, I'd be interested to hear how the adventure works out this Saturday. If you get a chance, post the details here in this thread. Thanks!

Johnathan M. Richards
Author, "Gorgoldand's Gauntlet"
(and self-professed Minesweeper fan!)

 

[DonAdam]

I love Gorgoldand's. I've run it several times for new players, and will do so again some time in the next few weeks.

I might try that new puzzle though...